An Australian-developed advanced solid rocket motor has completed its first successful flight test at the Koonibba Test Range near Ceduna in South Australia, demonstrating the nation’s growing ability to design, manufacture, integrate, and validate critical missile propulsion technologies.

Australia will become the first nation outside the US to operate the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, with a $736 million investment delivering a new generation of long-range air-to-air weapons designed to maintain the Royal Australian Air Force’s edge in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.

Delivered under the Australian Government's Women in Aviation Industry Initiative (WAII), the two industry-wide studies provide one of the most comprehensive assessments of workplace culture, leadership and career progression across Australia's aviation, aerospace and space sectors.

Numbers climbed by more than 1 million, or 4 per cent, on the previous financial year, with more than 7 million international passengers – up 7.9 per cent – and 18 million domestic passengers, up 2.5 per cent.